Concussion awareness for action sports

Sunday

Sep 30, 2012 at 2:00 AM

RYE — The seriousness of sports concussions was highlighted in August when Gov. John Lynch signed a bill aimed at enhancing safety protocols to protect student athletes from concussions and other head injuries.

Michael McCord

RYE — The seriousness of sports concussions was highlighted in August when Gov. John Lynch signed a bill aimed at enhancing safety protocols to protect student athletes from concussions and other head injuries.

Dr. Kevin Heaton, director of the Sports Concussion program at Access Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics, attended the signing ceremony and treats many high school athletes. While most sports-related concussions come from "collision sports" such as football, rugby and hockey, Heaton said there is concern about a growing number of concussion injuries in activities such as women's soccer to so-called "action sports" such as skateboarding, snowboarding and bike racing.

On Oct. 13 at Rye Airfield, Heaton and Access Sports Medicine will host a special, first-of-its-kind forum targeted at action sport devotees and their families. He will discuss the risk of concussions with action sports and common signs and symptoms of a concussion. He also will talk about the importance of ImPACT Baseline Testing as a first step in concussion management and the step by step protocol Access Sports Medicine uses in the case of a head injury.

"I'm excited to talk to this really underserved sport athletic population," he said. "They are doing riskier and riskier things and it's important for them to get more educated about concussions."

Heaton explained with the celebrity emergence of athletes like Tony Hawk and Shawn White and the popularity of the X Games, action sports have become mainstream in communities across America. Action sports have become an increasing source of exercise and activity for young people — but these athletes of all ages continue to push the envelope by going faster, bigger and performing more dangerous tricks.

"Kevin Pearce is an example of how dangerous these sports can be," Heaton said of the Olympic-level snowboarder, who was almost killed and suffered a severe brain injury during the Olympic trials in late 2009. Heaton said research into and knowledge about concussions has increased dramatically over the past decade, but there is still a lot of mystery about why some people can handle multiple concussive incidents and others have a threshold of one serious occurrence.

Concussions are caused by a blow that forces the head to move violently. They can affect a wide range of important physical and mental functions — memory, judgment, reflexes, speech, balance, and muscle coordination.

The symptoms become worse if not properly treated, and young people are more susceptible to long-term repercussions than adults.

What is clear is that each incident must be taken and treated seriously, Heaton said. He has treated cheerleaders and women soccer players whose necks may not be strong enough for the head to handle the trauma of constant heading of a soccer ball. Heaton has also treated a local high school hockey player who suffered a severe concussion and who took months just to return to school and whose hockey career is likely over.

"One of the secondary reasons for the increase in concussion is that kids are playing more sports such as football, hockey or rugby year round and they are getting more exposure to potential head blows," Heaton said.

As more research has been done, there also has been a greater awareness of concussions at the college and professional sports levels. Former National Football League players have filed a lawsuit against the league claiming it did not warn players about long-term consequences of repeated head trauma, an allegation the NFL vigorously denies.

Closer to home, Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard has yet to fully recover from a concussion hit suffered in a spring 2010 game and his career may be over.

Under the new New Hampshire law, coaches and other athletic officials who suspect an athlete has sustained a concussion will be required to remove him or her from play immediately, and the athlete will have to get written authorization from a health care provider and a parent before returning.

Information on such injuries also will be distributed to all youth athletes each year, and parents will have to sign forms indicating they had read the information before the start of practice or competition.

For more information about the Oct. 13 event and to RSVP, e-mail events@accesssportsmed.com or call 775-7575.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.

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